Healing The Bleeding Soul
by Twitter Chan and Psycho Chan
Summary: Sequel to Ten Cuts to the Soul. Virgil had found HotStreak in the park. Seeing how far the man has fallen, he helped the man out. He learns how much the red head has been through and learns what he truly desires.


Summary: Sequel to Ten Cuts to the Soul. Virgil had found HotStreak in the park. Seeing how far the man has fallen, he helped the man out. He learns how much the red head has been through and learns what he truly desires. And the one thing he desires is the only thing keeping him alive, and that love. But first, he needs to be healed.

Psycho Chan's Note: I was gonna end my first story but…I hate things like that. Like to be continues, they SHOULD NOT EXITS. Pisses me off to no end! Grrr… Anyway, I had a lot of HotStreak falling apart and breaking but not putting himself back together. Picking up the pieces that everyone kicks around. So here it is, HotStreak getting better. Taking everything he had learned over the past four years and putting them together to make himself both a stronger and better person. Yay! I'm not entirely evil! Then again…

Warning-You _should _probably read Ten Cuts to the Soul first

Healing the Bleeding Soul

Tales of Each Incision

Warmth. An unusual feeling for HotStreak to be waking up to. The comfort of a mattress underneath him and even a pillow. There was a thin blanket draped over his bare body and the air was clean and _odd_. New. HotStreak opens his eyes, sitting up to look around. A room he's never been in before. It wasn't a hospital, so relief immediately washed over him for that fact. Posters of the solar system were on the walls. Definitely no one he knows. The last thing he remembers is falling asleep in the park. "Guess someone dragged my ass to their place…"

"Yeah. They did."

A familiar voice caught his attention. Turning to the direction of the sound, HotStreak's dead eyes find Virgil, holding his blood stained clothes in one arm and a bottle of water in his other hand. "Virgil?"

"Guess you don't remember last night, huh?" Virgil tosses the clothes onto his desk, walking over to the bed. "I found you in the park…asked you to stay here for a while since you wouldn't go to the hospital."

"Oh…" Seemed reasonable to HotStreak. When the mocha skinned man offered the bottle of water, Francis did not hesitate to grab it, opening it quickly and chugging the contents of it. As he did so, Virgil laid out the clothes he took from the other man's body last night, cleaning them best he could. The clothes were tattered, worn, and stained. Didn't look like they were washed much. "Thanks."

"No problem…" Something was on Virgil's mind, and HotStreak could easily tell by the fact that he kept looking at him with confusion in his eyes, like he was trying to figure the man out. An that just made HotStreak just want to rip out his eyes to take back the uncovered truths.

"What?"

There was a short silence. Then Virgil decided to just go for it. "Those cuts on your wrist…you…you cut?" That was what confused the teen. _Francis Stone_ cutting. Didn't make much sense to him. He didn't want to think that he was suicidal because HotStreak was a fighter. And he wouldn't do this for a cry for help because he wouldn't take it.

Glancing down at his left wrist, HotStreak looks up to the geek. "No, I was hopping a fence and jumped too short."

"You don't want to talk about it?" Virgil was not real impressed. For once, he was trying to have a serious conversation.

"Yeah, I cut." Francis leans back till he rests on the wall.

"But why?"

"Memories."

Further confused, Virgil looks at the red head. Trying to figure out what he meant. "Memories? What do you mean by that?"

With a sigh, HotStreak decides to get it all out, like he probably should have at therapy. "Since the big bang…I started cutting at the end of each relationship at first…then somewhere it was more to who fucked and hurt me." Grey eyes stare at the blank wall behind the younger teen.

"That doesn't seem like a reason…"

"I donno why I started…I just did. It made me feel better for some reason…so I kept doin' it." The larger man slides off the bed, grabbing his clean clothes. Virgil looks away as the man dresses.

"So why'd you say memories?"

Francis buckles his pants. "So I don't forget what I learned from them." The man ignores his shirt, settling back on the bed. Hearing the springs of the bed creak, Virgil returns his gaze to HotStreak.

"…I don't follow…"

"My first cut was Talon…" HotStreak starts, not at all surprised that Virgil's eyes lit up at the Latina girl's name, but the boy kept quiet. "I kept secrets from her, and she didn't like it. That was why she broke up with me actually."

"So…what'd you learn?" Virgil was interested to say the least. Something about listening to HotStreak actually talk to him instead of beating him senseless.

"Not to keep secrets." HotStreak was amused by the stupid question.

"Shoulda guessed that one." Both chuckle quietly

"Yeah…but it didn't really help me in the next relationship. I dated some bitch by the name of Madelyn."

"Madelyn Spaulding? From school? You dated her?" The younger teen was shocked. "But she's a freak who has to keep everything perfect by her standards. And those are high standards!"

"I know." HotStreak laughs as he remembers this fact. "She asked me out because I was good lookin' and was everything she hated."

"Then you shouldn't have been surprised that you two broke up."

"I wasn't. It was that she said I make her look bad that pissed me off."

"What the hell could you learn from her? Besides the proper way to chew your food and the correct way to diet?"

"Make sure I like the person first." To be honest, that was a given, but Francis never really tried dating before the big bang. Just a bunch of one night stands with slutty broads.

"Nice."

"Yeah. And AquaMaria was just a disaster all around." Virgil remembered that situation. He also remembered HotStreak's expression that night. "She wanted to become human again and that meant leaving me behind."

"You couldn't still date?"

"She wanted to leave me behind because I wasn't human…she wanted her normal life back…without me. After I kept fucking up I just sorta figured out that sometimes change was for the best."

"That and you were in jail."

A little ticked, HotStreak glares at Virgil, making a fireball in his right hand. "I'm still metahuman Virg…"

"Gotcha." Virgil backed down. "Who'd you date after AquaMaria?" Virgil really was curious as to how this man kept relationships. So far, not so good.

"Tony."

"Do you mean Ferret?"

"Yeah…why?"

Virgil hesitated. "Because…Richie is dating him…"

Francis nods his head in irritation. "My fault he left my ass." HotStreak sighs. "See, it was winter and being homeless was hard. Ferret got sick and could never find food, so I started to sell my body for money."

"You became a hooker?" Virgil was again surprised. This man fell hard.

"Yeah. I got money and medicine for Tony…but then he caught me…left me…never spoke to me again." The man looks up at the white ceiling, remembering the look on Tony's face. The flash of betrayal quickly drown out by sheer anger. "Learned a lot about money that winter…including what it gets me to do in bed." Virgil watches the man closely, realizing that he must be remembering some awful things during that winter.

"And after Ferret?"

"Was when I stopped healthy relationships. I needed someone just so I didn't have to be alone." It was now Virgil realized that the man hated being alone. "Even if it just brought me sex and pain…I wasn't alone."

"So…who was the…fifth cut?" The boy was on the end of his seat.

"Static."

That made the hero uneasy. Confused him as well.

"I felt so guilty for raping him…I cut myself so I would never forget."

"But isn't that scar enough?"

"No…it wasn't…and it still isn't…"

"You said that…these were memories and lessons…what could you possibly learn from raping Static?" Virgil was a little angry for some reason.

"That I can't run away from my past…it caught up with me."

"How does rapi-"

"That's the next cut. Jay. He raped me shortly after I was out of the hospital because my mother wasn't around…I was about nine." HotStreak paused. "He still rapes me to this day."

"Where was your father?"

"Jay is my father." About now, Virgil put everything together about what was said to him on the island. His brown eyes widen in shock and disgust. The thought that a father would rape his own son was sickening. "Then my mother came home…a coupe days after I came back home."

"Why?"

"Turned out, Jay was able to call her back home the entire time. Twelve years he waited because it hurt me and my sister Tammy." The younger teen wasn't sure he wanted to hear more. "Cut myself then…didn't learn much of a lesson there. Just that my father sucks."

"That's putting it lightly" is mumbled. "Why not go to the police?"

"Scared I guess. They ain't my friends." Made sense. "Then my next cut was Diana…She raped me…"

"A woman raped you?"

"That woman was my mother." HotStreak states with little emotion. "I didn't fight her because it was just such a shock…I always wondered why she left…it was because I was too young to have…learned that some secrets were better left untouched."

There was a long awkward silence. Virgil was thankful, having to sort out this information. A father was one thing but a mother. She carried the child for months. Nurtured him, loved him, she should have protected her son. Not used him.

"Then I fucked Ebon for about a year…grew tired of him and cut. Started dating Shiv…who cheated on me and got me raped by Ebon…I cheated on Tony…so I figured out that that saying 'what goes around comes around' is true…and Ebon just reminded me that I was just useless trash that you use and throw out." that was said quickly and simply.

"…how can you still be alive? How can you…"

HotStreak looks at the darker skinned man. "Easy…" The red head looks Virgil dead in the eyes. "I stay alive to find that person who I can love and will love me in return…I grew up with absolutely no love…except for care for my sister, who I raised…I want to feel loved…like I'm a person and not an object or a pretty face to fuck…that's all I want…it isn't that much to ask for…is it?"

"No…" Virgil speaks softly. "It isn't…"


End file.
